Atlas Shrugged Chapter Summary & Analysis - Part 1, Chapter 6 "The Non-Commercial" Summary

Part 1, Chapter 6 "The Non-Commercial" Summary

Hank Rearden dresses for his anniversary party. He accepts his duty to give his wife Lillian some form of non-business existence, but he has not done so for the eight years of their marriage. They share no common interests or friends. Rearden accepts blame for problems at the mills and at home. A newspaper editorial falls out of his pocket. It predicts the passage of "The Equalization of Opportunity Bill" forbidding any person from owning more than one business. Wesley Mouch, Rearden's Washington lobbyist, tells him the bill will be defeated. Rearden throws the clipping in the trash.

Dressed impeccably and expensively, he walks slowly down the stairs to the drawing room. Lillian is at the foot of the stairs in a lemon-yellow empire evening gown that accentuates her graceful body. She wears too much jewelry, but her arms are conspicuously bare to show off the Rearden Metal bracelet on...
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